Integrated Spectroscopic, Digital and Regulatory Strategies for Counterfeit Pesticide Detection

This review introduces an operational ‘stage-to-governance’ conceptual framework that links standardized spectroscopic metadata, a resource-tiered field verification pathway and pilot-ready governance templates to enable reproducible, evidence-based pesticide authentication at scale while explicitly addressing technical, economic and legal barriers to deployment. The framework integrates minimum metadata, staged field verification and pilot-ready governance to support reproducible pesticide authentication. This review evaluates the capabilities and limits of Raman (including SERS), near-infrared (NIR), fluorescence/phosphorescence screening, digital verification tools (scratch/SMS, 2D codes, optical PUFs) and confirmatory laboratory methods (GC-MS, LC-MS/MS). For each technique we specify minimum reporting items, recommended validation designs (including blinded test sets and external validations), and practical LOD/LOQ ranges observed in the literature. Finally, we present a prioritized implementation agenda: (i) require Table-2 metadata and public deposition of raw spectra for pilot reports; (ii) fund multi-centre head-to-head pilots that report error rates and per-sample validated costs; (iii) establish regional ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory hubs with routine proficiency testing; and (iv) select registry architectures (centralized vs hybrid vs permissioned ledger) by empirical KPIs rather than by default. This operational agenda supports evidence-based national rollouts of pesticide authentication programs.